By now your afterburners should be on and you should be moving towards completing your final project. As per the email sent to the group your order of operations should be a) wireframe entire site b) think through what your content types might be and what fields they may incorporate c) enter/collect your content, possibly adjusting your wireframes as you think about how the material can be featured in different ways on different parts of the site (e.g. how can you use views to create custom displays?) d) design, design, design in Drupal and with CMS.
All students are expected to have a full set of wireframes and be ready to pitch their project (with detailed description of planned/ideal functionality) during the first session of week six. Vague descriptions of goals are not acceptable, nor is having seven tabs open in Chrome and saying "my site will have a slideshow like this, and a menu like this and an about page like this" etc. It is crucial that you make the most of this last week of class, which will entirely be dedicated to work on the final projects.
Example of the various displays of a responsive site, see many more examples at mediaqueri.es
Week 5, Session 1 | Responsive Web Design & Mobile First
If this accelerated semester were a hockey game we'd be headed into the third period so that means a few things. First, a third to half of our class time will be dedicated to seminars this week – make sure to pay attention to your peers and engage them with good questions. Secondly, there are no more exercises – there is only 'moving forward on your final website'. I'll give a brief lecture on Responsive web design and the 'mobile first' approach today and the remainder of the class will be dedicated to working on your final projects.
As per the take-home exercise (see #2 here) on Tuesday it is expected that you'll show up to class with some plans for your personal site to discuss. We'll spend some time working in small groups and you can bounce your ideas off your peers. You may want to get started developing but it might be wiser to keep things conceptual and think through what your site wireframes, content types and views might be for your final project. I'll be spending an hour or so presenting a few tools that you might want to investigate and implement into your final project workflow. Additionally, seminars start next week so this session would be a good time to field any questions about your topics that you might have.
From today onwards it is expected that you'll have rough wireframes/illustrations of your plan for your site on hand at all times to reference when you seek consultation with Jeremy, myself or your peers.
Week 4, Session 1 | Final Assignment Introduced | W4S1
Congrats on wrapping up the CV assignments, I went through all the pages at the beginning of the weekend and things really appear to have came together over the final 24 hours. Today we're going to honour your last minute crunches by—wait for it—not touching CSS, Drupal and our computers for that matter. I'll be be presenting some summary thoughts on the CV assignment and introducing the final assignment. We'll work together to do a planning exercise to demonstrate how to conceptualize a moderately complex web project and then spend time brainstorming and wireframing our final projects. I'm in the midst of rejigging my plans for the next week and a half based off a) where you guys are at and b) what seminar groups are presenting when... things are still up in the air but ensure you are present on Thursday as I'll be demoing a number of tools (jQuery plugins), modules (that make your life easier) and themes (that are the least likely to drive you crazy) that you might consider incorporating into your final project.
Please spend some time going through the install directory to check out the CV assignments prepared by your peers. If you are curious about some of their CSS, use Firebug to see what properties they tweaked.
Week 3, Session 2 | CV Assignment Work Session
Today we were scheduled to talk about HTML5, jQuery (and more broadly, UX) in Drupal but that conversation seems a bit irrelevant given the imminent CV assignment deadline. I need to coordinate with the seminar group doing jQuery plugins for Drupal (to see what they are covering) and will come back to this topic next week – when it will more directly apply to the websites you'll be planning. You should use today to make as much headway as possible on your CV and consult with Jeremy or I regarding planning (we can give advice on implementation) or CSS queries. Please review the assignment brief page regarding deadline and submission expectations.
Today we are going to follow up on the content type/views workflows we learned last week through the CV walkthroughs with some related tutorials and exercises that will teach us about taxonomy and image handling within views. Essentially the material we'll be learning this week is supplementary to the skills you'll need for your CV (although it could be incorporated, why not have images in you CV?) but these skills will be essential for the final assignment – so make sure to work through the exercises/pay attention to demos this week. Also, you are expected to form seminar groups by the end of Thursday and only one group has claimed a date/topic – please take care of this this week and note the 'seminar personal ads' page where you can post your would-be team and contact info if you are looking for collaborators. Please note, there will be NO seminar presentations the final week so it is important that you book a group/date ASAP given the seminars-per-class limitations that I've imposed.
Your CV assignment is due on Monday so you should use today's class session to rough out your plans for the single page. Some questions you might ask yourself:
Which layouts are possible with the 960 grid theme? (explore different layout options by moving the blocks around)
Is there any superfluous information on the page? (do you really need the navigation menus or login block on your CV? Probably not)
Is everything on the page styled in a consistant manner?
Is there a clear typography hierarchy? Is there a clear distinction between major headers (page title) secondary headers (CV section headers) and subheads (position titles)? How about individual jobs/schools in the employment/education section, is there a logical hierarchy within them? (or is everything in the same font, same size?). If you are interested, check out this 'guide to font pairing' that I just saw linked on twitter (while it is print-centric, the discussed fundamentals still apply to the web)
You should definitely try to finalize a plan for your CV by the end of today – you may end up changing it but you need to be working towards a goal. If you need some inspiration please see the examples included on the assignment page and either Jeremy or I will be happy to review any plans you might have.
Ok, while Tuesday was just rammed with administration today shouldn't be super-involved. We're going to learn about views (starting with the above video) and I'll make/demonstrate a few examples. We'll learn a bit about taxonomy and I'll give you the better part of the class today to work onCV Walkthrough #2. You can get started on your design (or at least planning) for the CV assignment. Also, take some time to try to organize a seminar group, the sooner you get that out of the way, the better.
This week we'll get started on the CV assignment and learning how to create custom content types. We'll be looking at several examples of content types and views from other contexts, so be mindful to play close attention as you can learn something from every example we'll look at. You'll be working through some very detailed walkthroughs to develop some essential skills, and while exact directions have been provided please take your time and think about each step when doing these exercises as the expectation is this template will help you see and understand how to make your own content types and views (both crucial for the second assignment). We'll also dedicate 45 minutes of the class to a basic CSS review (those of you that don't feel you need this can work ahead to the CV walkthrough).
This session we'll be looking a little more closely at the general lay of the land within the Drupal administrative interface. We'll do some rudimentary exercises like changing themes and installing modules and take a quick look at content types and content creation. We'll be wrapping up our 101 style introductions to basic Drupal concepts and moving into more of a design mode. We'll be examining the possibilities afforded by blocks in order to get a better understanding of layout in drupal, and working through a couple of the more flexible themes. The class will culminate with a open design exercise to allow us to get a sense of where the group is in terms of CSS skills and as a warm up for the forthcoming CV exercise. It is expected that you'll have worked through the W1S2 exercises by the start of next class.
Those of you that missed the first session: Please see Jeremy about getting your Drupal install set up and when it is email me to inform me of your install number, you'll want to work through the slides for lecture 1 and the first three steps of the 'Basic Orientation' to get caught up.
Week 1, Session 1 | Welcome to the wikispaces home of CCT460S12
In this course we'll be extending the information architecture fundamentals that you developed in CCT360 and exploring Drupal, a robust and modular content management system (CMS). Drupal is noted for being extremely powerful and also for having a steep learning curve and having taught this course in a regular semester, I can say it is tough to fit it into 13 weeks – which means we've got our work cut out for us within this accelerated summer schedule.
Please note the install directory – and see which install you've been assigned. We'll walk through the installs as a group, but note the reference document.
Week 5, Session 2 / Week 6 | Final Project Crunch
By now your afterburners should be on and you should be moving towards completing your final project. As per the email sent to the group your order of operations should be a) wireframe entire site b) think through what your content types might be and what fields they may incorporate c) enter/collect your content, possibly adjusting your wireframes as you think about how the material can be featured in different ways on different parts of the site (e.g. how can you use views to create custom displays?) d) design, design, design in Drupal and with CMS.All students are expected to have a full set of wireframes and be ready to pitch their project (with detailed description of planned/ideal functionality) during the first session of week six. Vague descriptions of goals are not acceptable, nor is having seven tabs open in Chrome and saying "my site will have a slideshow like this, and a menu like this and an about page like this" etc. It is crucial that you make the most of this last week of class, which will entirely be dedicated to work on the final projects.
Example of the various displays of a responsive site, see many more examples at mediaqueri.es
Week 5, Session 1 | Responsive Web Design & Mobile First
If this accelerated semester were a hockey game we'd be headed into the third period so that means a few things. First, a third to half of our class time will be dedicated to seminars this week – make sure to pay attention to your peers and engage them with good questions. Secondly, there are no more exercises – there is only 'moving forward on your final website'. I'll give a brief lecture on Responsive web design and the 'mobile first' approach today and the remainder of the class will be dedicated to working on your final projects.Week 4, Session 2 | Layout & jQuery Plugins (and more planning) | W4S2
As per the take-home exercise (see #2 here) on Tuesday it is expected that you'll show up to class with some plans for your personal site to discuss. We'll spend some time working in small groups and you can bounce your ideas off your peers. You may want to get started developing but it might be wiser to keep things conceptual and think through what your site wireframes, content types and views might be for your final project. I'll be spending an hour or so presenting a few tools that you might want to investigate and implement into your final project workflow. Additionally, seminars start next week so this session would be a good time to field any questions about your topics that you might have.From today onwards it is expected that you'll have rough wireframes/illustrations of your plan for your site on hand at all times to reference when you seek consultation with Jeremy, myself or your peers.
Week 4, Session 1 | Final Assignment Introduced | W4S1
Congrats on wrapping up the CV assignments, I went through all the pages at the beginning of the weekend and things really appear to have came together over the final 24 hours. Today we're going to honour your last minute crunches by—wait for it—not touching CSS, Drupal and our computers for that matter. I'll be be presenting some summary thoughts on the CV assignment and introducing the final assignment. We'll work together to do a planning exercise to demonstrate how to conceptualize a moderately complex web project and then spend time brainstorming and wireframing our final projects. I'm in the midst of rejigging my plans for the next week and a half based off a) where you guys are at and b) what seminar groups are presenting when... things are still up in the air but ensure you are present on Thursday as I'll be demoing a number of tools (jQuery plugins), modules (that make your life easier) and themes (that are the least likely to drive you crazy) that you might consider incorporating into your final project.Please spend some time going through the install directory to check out the CV assignments prepared by your peers. If you are curious about some of their CSS, use Firebug to see what properties they tweaked.
Week 3, Session 2 | CV Assignment Work Session
Today we were scheduled to talk about HTML5, jQuery (and more broadly, UX) in Drupal but that conversation seems a bit irrelevant given the imminent CV assignment deadline. I need to coordinate with the seminar group doing jQuery plugins for Drupal (to see what they are covering) and will come back to this topic next week – when it will more directly apply to the websites you'll be planning. You should use today to make as much headway as possible on your CV and consult with Jeremy or I regarding planning (we can give advice on implementation) or CSS queries. Please review the assignment brief page regarding deadline and submission expectations.Week 3, Session 1 | Content Redux – Images & Media | W3S1
Today we are going to follow up on the content type/views workflows we learned last week through the CV walkthroughs with some related tutorials and exercises that will teach us about taxonomy and image handling within views. Essentially the material we'll be learning this week is supplementary to the skills you'll need for your CV (although it could be incorporated, why not have images in you CV?) but these skills will be essential for the final assignment – so make sure to work through the exercises/pay attention to demos this week. Also, you are expected to form seminar groups by the end of Thursday and only one group has claimed a date/topic – please take care of this this week and note the 'seminar personal ads' page where you can post your would-be team and contact info if you are looking for collaborators. Please note, there will be NO seminar presentations the final week so it is important that you book a group/date ASAP given the seminars-per-class limitations that I've imposed.Your CV assignment is due on Monday so you should use today's class session to rough out your plans for the single page. Some questions you might ask yourself:
- Which layouts are possible with the 960 grid theme? (explore different layout options by moving the blocks around)
- Is there any superfluous information on the page? (do you really need the navigation menus or login block on your CV? Probably not)
- Is everything on the page styled in a consistant manner?
- Is there a clear typography hierarchy? Is there a clear distinction between major headers (page title) secondary headers (CV section headers) and subheads (position titles)? How about individual jobs/schools in the employment/education section, is there a logical hierarchy within them? (or is everything in the same font, same size?). If you are interested, check out this 'guide to font pairing' that I just saw linked on twitter (while it is print-centric, the discussed fundamentals still apply to the web)
You should definitely try to finalize a plan for your CV by the end of today – you may end up changing it but you need to be working towards a goal. If you need some inspiration please see the examples included on the assignment page and either Jeremy or I will be happy to review any plans you might have.Week 2, Session 2 | Views | W2S2
Ok, while Tuesday was just rammed with administration today shouldn't be super-involved. We're going to learn about views (starting with the above video) and I'll make/demonstrate a few examples. We'll learn a bit about taxonomy and I'll give you the better part of the class today to work onCV Walkthrough #2. You can get started on your design (or at least planning) for the CV assignment. Also, take some time to try to organize a seminar group, the sooner you get that out of the way, the better.Week 2, Session 1 | Content | W2S1
This week we'll get started on the CV assignment and learning how to create custom content types. We'll be looking at several examples of content types and views from other contexts, so be mindful to play close attention as you can learn something from every example we'll look at. You'll be working through some very detailed walkthroughs to develop some essential skills, and while exact directions have been provided please take your time and think about each step when doing these exercises as the expectation is this template will help you see and understand how to make your own content types and views (both crucial for the second assignment). We'll also dedicate 45 minutes of the class to a basic CSS review (those of you that don't feel you need this can work ahead to the CV walkthrough).Please note that in addition to the CV assignment the seminar and participation rubric have been posted.
Week 1, Session 2 | Blocks, layouts and themes (getting our bearings) | W1S2
This session we'll be looking a little more closely at the general lay of the land within the Drupal administrative interface. We'll do some rudimentary exercises like changing themes and installing modules and take a quick look at content types and content creation. We'll be wrapping up our 101 style introductions to basic Drupal concepts and moving into more of a design mode. We'll be examining the possibilities afforded by blocks in order to get a better understanding of layout in drupal, and working through a couple of the more flexible themes. The class will culminate with a open design exercise to allow us to get a sense of where the group is in terms of CSS skills and as a warm up for the forthcoming CV exercise. It is expected that you'll have worked through the W1S2 exercises by the start of next class.
Please spend some time before the end of the week, or over the weekend listening to Drupal Voices 104: Tim O'Reilly on Drupal and the Internet Operating System and Drupal Podcast No. 60: Zero to 60 in 60 Minutes - these podcasts will really help you get your bearing and help you understand Drupal as a component element within the broader web and in learning about many of the idiosyncrasies.
Those of you that missed the first session: Please see Jeremy about getting your Drupal install set up and when it is email me to inform me of your install number, you'll want to work through the slides for lecture 1 and the first three steps of the 'Basic Orientation' to get caught up.
Week 1, Session 1 | Welcome to the wikispaces home of CCT460S12
In this course we'll be extending the information architecture fundamentals that you developed in CCT360 and exploring Drupal, a robust and modular content management system (CMS). Drupal is noted for being extremely powerful and also for having a steep learning curve and having taught this course in a regular semester, I can say it is tough to fit it into 13 weeks – which means we've got our work cut out for us within this accelerated summer schedule.Please note the install directory – and see which install you've been assigned. We'll walk through the installs as a group, but note the reference document.